"He even went far ahead and burnt his own hometown Goldmond. How cruel…?"

"How could you do this? To escape, you even killed your wife and daughter…"

"Are you even a human?", the officer asked.

Reo's blood boiled the moment he heard that.

As said earlier, Reo was a bit scary-looking person so even a little anger on his face would give a demon's expression.

"Look at him! This is his real identity!", the officer pinpointed at his angered face.

Some booed at Reo while others wanted him to get killed immediately. There were some pirates who even wanted him to escape. Some were even betting on if he could survive this execution.

The crowd cheered as the officer instructed the man who was pulling the rope to release the blade.

However, the officer did not budge as if he had not seen the instruction at all.

"You over there, release the rope now!", the head officer who had been trash-talking till now said, thinking that the guard responsible for releasing the rope did not see his sign.

Alas, the guard did not budge at all.

"Somebody go tell him to release the rope.", the head officer said loudly. Another officer walked towards the executioner guard to tell him, at least, that's what the head officer thought.

Instead of sending the message to the executioner, he pulled Reo up and untied him.

"What are you doing?", the head officer roared furiously.

Then, the executioner released the rope and the blade fell right on the guillotine.

The crowd gasped and murmured among themselves. The head officer, confused, instructed his assistant to check out the situation at the guillotine.

The assistant nodded as he walked to the guillotine. Then, he walked behind the guillotine and wanted to see what happened.

However, a loud scream was heard and blood splattered everywhere. Eric walked out from behind the guillotine with the assistant's head in his hand.

"How are you, Head Officer Daris? Did you miss me?", Eric asked as he looked at the Head-officer.

Daris was utterly surprised to see Eric here. The moment blood splattered, the worldwide broadcast was stopped.

"How did you escape?"

"Hurry and catch him!", Daris yelled.

About 10 officers standing beside him rushed towards Eric. However, only 6 of them tried to restrain Eric.

"What are you doing?", he asked as he looked at the remaining four. Maybe they were just simply petrified all of a sudden due to fear after seeing Daris' assistant's head!

Anyway, Eric wouldn't let them catch him so easily.

He might not be able to use his powers now, but he was still good at using conventional weapons. He wouldn't be a good pirate if he didn't.

The four officers who were thought to be petrified due to fear were actually on Eric's side. They helped Eric to stop the attack from the other six officers. By that time, Reo was finally free. He immediately helped Eric to stop the attack of their enemy.

Basically, all they did was shoot the officers' heads with bullets from the guns lent by the other four.

"What- What the heck is going on?", Daris yelled as he held his head.

"You didn't see this coming, right?", Eric said as he continued fighting off the police officers and shooting their heads.

Many more did head towards them, however, their numbers were no more than fifty.

The crowd grew anxious. Because the broadcast had stopped, many news reporters started writing different articles regarding the case almost immediately while waiting for the broadcast to start again.

"Even if you escape, you cannot live more than an hour, Reo!", Daris shouted as he too shot some bullets at the criminals who were disguised as officers. It didn't take too long for Daris to realize that.

Reo smirked when he heard this. Of course, he hadn't eaten the meat. Rather, he threw everything that was given into a jute bag. Eric was the one who came up with the hypothesis of the poison scheming. Thanks to that, Reo would definitely survive longer.

Eric's mind traveled back to the conversation he had three months ago with the man behind this idea.

.

.

.

"So, do you know where you'll be sent to on that day?"

Reo shook his head, "Not really."

The man rolled his eyes, "I don't think you're taking your life seriously."

Reo scoffed, "What? You think you know something about the location, Lus?"

"Actually I do.", Lus grinned.

"How-it doesn't matter. Just say it."

"Uh…"

"You need to plead to know that…", the same person who had his arms crossed and suggested a few additions to the plan said this. He was the one they called Lus. He seemed to like tormenting and making jokes often.

"Come on man, we don't have time for that…", Reo said as Eric chuckled on hearing this.

"You'll be taken to 'Retribution Island'.", Lus said as he chuckled too.

Eric looked at the man, intrigued, "What's wrong with them? Sending criminals to these weird islands just to execute…"

"Do they want to broadcast this to the whole world?", Eric asked.

Lus nodded his head after hearing that.

Reo and Eric looked at each other. Reo continued, "So, I'll be executed there?"

"Yes. Unless we get to you first."

"Elaborate, please.", Reo murmured.

Lus nodded and then looked at Eric who continued the plan.

"We just need to disguise ourselves as those officers from Anti-Pirate Federation…", Eric said as he grinned.

"Huh? How…?", Reo asked in confusion. That's because having some people already disguised was a heavy task. Any more could end up giving themselves away!

Eric then explained the plan.

"On the day of your execution, I am sure someone will come to fetch you. We just have to replace him.", he said as if it was way too easy.

"Heh…?"

Lus nodded when he heard this.

"Then you can let all of us go, and we'll disguise ourselves as officers too. Then, we'll find a way to go into the Retribution Island and help Reo.", said other criminals sitting in the same cell who were called later.

Reo nodded, "This plan sounds plausible."